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Two sisters with a passion for life.Tue, 16 Jan 2018 17:10:37 +0000en-GBhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.4https://i1.wp.com/thevitalsisters.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cropped-THEVITALSISTERS-logo3-1.png?fit=32%2C32Basics – the vital sistershttp://thevitalsisters.com
3232104798003Fluffy Pita Bread – an absolute allrounderhttp://thevitalsisters.com/2017/03/fluffy-pita-bread/
http://thevitalsisters.com/2017/03/fluffy-pita-bread/#respondMon, 13 Mar 2017 16:25:31 +0000http://thevitalsisters.com/?p=743Fluffy Pita Bread – an absolute allrounder Today we would like to share our Vital Sisters version of fluffy pita bread with you. It’s a great allrounder. Not a pita pocket though. As in you won’t get air pockets but it is so damn delicious. It works great with dips, soups, as a bap or …

Fluffy Pita Bread – an absolute allrounder

Today we would like to share our Vital Sisters version of fluffy pita bread with you. It’s a great allrounder. Not a pita pocket though. As in you won’t get air pockets but it is so damn delicious. It works great with dips, soups, as a bap or just a nibble with wine. We have had so many compliments on this bread it would be inconsiderate not to share it.
We hope you enjoy it as much as we and our friends and family do.

Ingredients

1 packet fresh yeast (42 g)

1 tsp sugar

400ml warm water

1 kg wheat or spelt flour

2.5 tsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

serves at least 6.

Instructions

Prepare your yeast by mixing 100ml of your water, sugar and the crumbled up yeast. Cover with a cloth and leave for about 10 minutes.The yeast is ready for action once it has started to bubble up.

Meanwhile, add the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.

Make a whole in the middle of the flour and pour in the yeast mix. Start mixing it, slowly adding more water until you have a smooth,firm dough. We usually start kneading for about 5 minutes using our Kenwood Chef followed by a further five minutes hand kneading.

Cover your dough with a cloth and prove for about an hour. It should at least double in size.

Flour your surface and tip out the dough. Form pita bread shapes or any shape you like. You can use a rolling pin or your bare hands. Whatever feels best for you. The pitas should be around 1 cm thick.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 15- 20 minutes. Depending on your oven and the colour you want to achieve.

The Vital Sisters Curry Paste

It is easy to just pick up a ready made jar of different flavoured curry pastes, but wouldn’t it be even nicer to make your own?

Ingredients

1/2 tsp black pepper corns

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1.5 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

7 cardamon pods, seeds removed and skins discarded

1/2 tsp ground cinamon

1 star anise

3 cloves

1 thumb sized piece fresh ginger, cut up into small chunks

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

2 tbsp tomato purree

3 tbsp oil (we used thistle oil)

as much fresh chilli as you can handle (roughly chopped)

How it’s done

If you want a smooth paste without any bits of spices, grind the pepper corns, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cardamom seeds, star anise and cloves with a pestle and mortar as finely as possible. We personally like the extra flavour kick you get from larger pieces of most spices, but we always pre-grind the star anise and cloves as for us, these flavour can be too overpowering. Then simply put all your ingredients in a high speed blender or food processor and blend until you have a fairly smooth paste.

Our VitalSisters’ curry paste is the base for the VitalSisters’ pumpkin curry but we have also served it as a dip with homemade pita bread and crudités.

Enjoy!

xV&Sx

We would love to see your creations. Just post them on Instagram with #thevitalsisterscreations

INGREDIENTS

As much garlic as you like, however we suggest at least 1 bulb of garlic peeled. As a rough guideline, one decent sized bulb of garlic should yield a small jar (like the one on the photo)

HOW IT’S DONE

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Slice your peeled garlic cloves into thin slices, about 1 to 2 mm is good. Put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Gently roast the garlic. Turn each garlic slice about every 15 minutes. If you find one slice has dried completely, remove it from the oven. The most important thing to remember in this exercise is, the garlic has to be completely dehydrated. It should be crumbly dry. You won’t get good results if you use half-dried garlic. I usually pinch the slices with my fingernails. If it is still a little soft, then it needs more time. Some slices will only need 25 minutes, others may need quite a bit more time. It is a little like cherry picking each piece, but it is totally worth it in the end.

After the 25 minutes turn down the heat to 100 degrees Celsius and roast until you are happy with each slice. Leave the roasted slices of garlic to cool. Then grind finely in a blender (or coffee grinder) .

And that’s it. You will have made your own fragrant roasted garlic powder. Great to use in many recipes including our Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia.

]]>http://thevitalsisters.com/2016/09/homemade-roasted-garlic-powder/feed/2729Basic Rye Sourdough Starterhttp://thevitalsisters.com/2016/06/basic-rye-sourdough-starter/
http://thevitalsisters.com/2016/06/basic-rye-sourdough-starter/#commentsFri, 03 Jun 2016 15:03:48 +0000http://thevitalsisters.com/?p=675INGREDIENTS Rye flour Water HOW IT’S DONE Day ONE: In a clean glass jar (make sure it can hold at least 400 ml) add 1/2 cup of rye flour and 1/2 cup warm water and mix well with a fork. Cover with kitchen foil but make sure you add a few holes. Leave in a …

INGREDIENTS

Rye flour

Water

HOW IT’S DONE

Day ONE: In a clean glass jar (make sure it can hold at least 400 ml) add 1/2 cup of rye flour and 1/2 cup warm water and mix well with a fork. Cover with kitchen foil but make sure you add a few holes. Leave in a warm place, out of direct sunlight.

Day Two: Add 1/2 cup of rye flour and 1/2 cup of warm water and stir. if the consistency is very liquid, add more flour. Cover again.

Day Three to baking day: Regularly feed the starter with about 1/4 cup rye flour and about the same amount of water. it depends on your starter how much you need to feed it keep it happy. What you want is a starter that has a slightly sour smell and bubbles, especially after feedings. The bubbles mean it is active and ready to use. Some starters only take about three days, some need a little more time. With rye we found it usually takes about five days. Possibly because rye has less gluten.

Any unused starter can happily be kept in the fridge for a few weeks. You can either see or smell if it is off.

]]>http://thevitalsisters.com/2016/06/basic-rye-sourdough-starter/feed/1675Homemade Coconut Milkhttp://thevitalsisters.com/2015/07/homemade-coconut-milk/
http://thevitalsisters.com/2015/07/homemade-coconut-milk/#commentsWed, 01 Jul 2015 13:54:50 +0000http://thevitalsisters.com/?p=163Our favourite non-dairy milk is, without doubt, coconut-milk. We love the creamy texture and tropical taste! This recipe is a great and super easy alternative to store bought coconut-milk as it is a lot cheaper and – the most important factor for us – does not contain any additives like carrageenan, xanthan gum, guar gum or flavourings. …

This recipe is a great and super easy alternative to store bought coconut-milk as it is a lot cheaper and – the most important factor for us – does not contain any additives like carrageenan, xanthan gum, guar gum or flavourings. As this milk is really just made out of fresh coconut meat and water it needs to be used up pretty quickly. You can keep it in the fridge for a maximum of 2 days (be sure to give it a good shake before using as the milk will separate). And to be on the safe side, do a smell and taste test before. If it smells or tastes off, discard of it.

We like to us the milk for smoothies (see Strawberry & Coconut Smoothie), iced coconut chai lattes (recipe will be on the blog soon ;)) or pina coladas.

The leftover pulp can easily be turned into coconut-flour, used as a topping for mueslies or put into smoothies to add fiber.

Ingredients

1 heaped cup fresh mature coconut meat

2 cups warm water

a sprinkle of sea salt

1-2 dates (optional)

How it’s done

Put all the ingredients in a high speed blender and blend on high for about 3-5 minutes. If you prefer your milk to be slightly sweet you can add one or two dates (soak them in warm water for about 15 minutes beforehand).

Pour the mixture into a nut milk bag and drain. Squeeze thoroughly to get all the milk out.

Don’t throw the pulp away! As I have mentioned before you can make flour out of the leftovers. Just spread the mixture on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put it in the oven on a low heat (around 150 Celsius). After 15 minutes check and turn the flour. Once the flour is dry, remove it from the oven and cool. If the flour is very coarse, you can simply blend it to achieve a finer texture.